Journalist | Interviewer | Law, human behaviour, security, and geopolitics
Lauren Fabels is a journalist, presenter, and moderator specialising in complex social and current themes. She brings stories behind crime, law, geopolitics, and imaging to the forefront in a human and accessible way.
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What drives people to make choices that are incomprehensible to others? How do stories influence our judgement? And what do we see when we dare to look beyond the first impression?
Lauren Fabels is a journalist, presenter, and interviewer. She is fascinated by situations where much is at stake and we are forced to look beyond our first judgement. In her work, she explores the human stories behind crime and justice, but also behind war, geopolitics, and major societal changes.
This combination makes her a distinctive speaker and event chair. Lauren combines journalistic sharpness with genuine curiosity, bringing complex topics in an accessible and human way. Not by making reality simpler than it is, but by revealing the choices, interests, and motivations that lie behind it.
The most interesting insights often arise when you are willing to postpone your first judgement for a while.
Lauren worked as a crime editor for Pauw and Op1, two of the Netherlands’ leading nightly talk shows, where she translated complex criminal cases and social developments for an audience of over a million. Today she is a part-time editor-in-chief at Pauw & De Wit. She also co-produces and presents the popular podcast Veroordeeld (“Convicted”) with criminal defence lawyer Veerle Hammerstein, in which they speak with people who have been convicted of a crime. The aim is not to glamorise crime, but to uncover the human stories behind a conviction. In addition, Lauren presents the weekly Wereldupdate (“World Update”), a current-affairs podcast on the shifting global order, produced in collaboration with the Clingendael Institute, the Netherlands’ foremost think tank on international relations.
In her lectures, Lauren takes her audience into stories that usually remain hidden. She takes her audience behind the scenes of the media and the courtroom, showing how stories shape our reality. Her lectures encourage reflection without moralising, inspiring participants to look at others with more curiosity and less judgement.
In addition to her lectures, Lauren is available as an event chair, interviewer, and moderator for conferences, panels, and live events. She creates a warm atmosphere where both guests on stage and the audience feel at ease. This does not mean she shies away from critical questions — quite the opposite. It is precisely when people feel seen that open conversations occur, bringing forth the most interesting and honest answers.
Through her work on Wereldupdate, Veldheren, Veroordeeld, and Pauw & De Wit, Lauren feels at home at events about:
Lauren prepares journalistically, makes complex subjects understandable, and safeguards both content and energy in the room. She asks questions that advance the conversation, engages the audience, and ensures that different perspectives are genuinely covered.
Whether it is a discussion with administrators, military personnel, scientists, politicians, experts by experience, or professionals: Lauren brings major current themes back to the choices and consequences that truly impact people.
What leads someone to make the wrong choice? Based on nearly one hundred personal interviews with offenders, Lauren provides an exceptional insight into the motivations behind crime. She talks about people who acted out of greed, status, or thrill, but also about the influence of poverty, addiction, loyalty, peer pressure, love, and the need to belong. A lecture about choices and consequences, guilt and shame, our legal system, and the question of how much space a society offers for a second chance.
In nearly a hundred conversations with convicts, Lauren learned something that goes far beyond crime: every person wants to be seen. When you dare to listen without judgment and are genuinely curious, people thaw. Beyond the first impression, emotions, choices, and motivations come to light. In a world where we quickly judge and are mostly busy trying to convince others, we sometimes lose that open curiosity. Through personal stories, Lauren shows what happens when we first try to understand. This not only leads to better contact but also to more trust, more honest conversations, and better collaboration within organisations.
Lauren brings an ex-offender and interviews them on stage so that the audience can also ask questions.
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